LONDON – According to research conducted by Adult Creative, 80% of UK-based escort agencies, directory sites and other adult services are in noncompliance with the UK’s s Online Safety Act (OSA) and “could face penalties of up to £18 million or 10% of global turnover if they fail to comply.”
In a blog post published Tuesday, Adult Creative noted that the OSA “is no longer just a concern for social media giants and global tech platforms.”
“Its rules now apply to any online service accessible to UK users that hosts user-to-user content or pornographic material, including escort agency websites and adult directories featuring profiles, images, reviews, and communication channels,” Adult Creative wrote.
The conclusion is based on Adult Creative’s analysis of 400 UK “escort, directory websites, and related adult-service platforms.” The firm’s analysis found “widespread gaps in compliance” with the OSA across those platforms.
Adult Creative observed that “this vulnerability comes at a critical time.”
“Ofcom has already issued fines totaling over £1.07 million in 2025 to pornographic site operators for inadequate age assurance, including a £1 million penalty for lacking liveness detection in checks,” Adult Creative added in the post. “Investigations into 92 services have been opened since July 2025, and more than half of the UK’s top 100 adult sites have introduced age verification in response to early enforcement. With Ofcom planning a 2026 report on age assurance effectiveness and maintaining a strong focus on child protection — where online sex crime convictions have risen 14-fold in the last decade — the sector faces intensified scrutiny throughout the year.”
Adult Creative’s key findings included that 80% of the sites reviewed “lacked ‘highly effective’ age-verification measures,” quoting the standard required by the OSA, while 72% “displayed explicit images or sexual service descriptions on landing pages” and 64% of the sites “relied solely on ‘I am over 18’ click-throughs.”
Zohaib Hashim, Founder and CEO of Blackmont Legal, a Manchester-based firm that recently launched a service for creators and agencies working on OnlyFans, said the scope of the OSA is wide by design, adding that “it can extend to any business which may be located through search engines (e.g. Google) and including those that interact with customers with traditional telephony such as MMS/mobile phones.”
According to Zohaib, the key for determining if a service is regulated is whether its content meets the criteria set out in s.236 of the OSA. Zohaib said “escort sites definitely meet this requirement” and “directory websites are also very likely to fall within the scope because of their facility of resharing content (i.e. advertisements and media) created by others.”
Zohaib emphasized that the definition under s.236 of the OSA extends beyond strictly pornographic material to cover any content designed to sexually arouse the viewer. As such, “taking crucial advice now on market adherence and child safeguarding is key.”
“The scope of OFCOM’s audit powers are ultimately always designed at minimizing access and impact on minors, so that is the perspective that service providers should be viewing the content from,” Zohaib added.
Matthew Barton, Director at Adult Creative, said his firm’s research “shows there is a clear need for improvement, and what some escort agencies and directories may view as a compliance burden is actually a wake-up call to modernize outdated systems and raise industry standards.”
“Those who act early won’t just avoid fines — they’ll position themselves as safer, more resilient businesses ready to compete in a regulated digital economy,” Barton added. “Agencies can remain fully compliant while preserving strong SEO performance, which is essential for sustaining their business.”
